The present disclosure generally relates to medical patient monitoring systems, and more particularly to methods and systems for authenticating approved physiological data acquisition devices for connection to a patient monitor.
Patient monitors for monitoring physiological data often comprise a central patient monitor connectable to multiple auxiliary devices that acquire physiological data from the patient so that multiple different types of physiological data acquired by multiple different devices is collected and channeled through a central monitoring device. The central monitoring device often includes a display to display the patient physiological data, memory to store the patient physiological data, and/or a transmitter to transmit the patient physiological data to a central network for storage in a patient's electronic medical record. The patient monitor may be connectable with one or more of several different physiological data acquisition devices simultaneously, which could include a pulse oximeter (SPO2), a non-invasive blood pressure monitor (NIBP), an end-title CO2 (EtCO2) monitor, an electrocardiograph (ECG) device, an electroencephalograph (EEG) device, a temperature monitor, an invasive blood pressure monitor, a capnograph, or the like.
Patient monitors and physiological data acquisition devices come in regular contact with patients and must meet high standards of safety and reliability. Since patient monitors may be connected to various different physiological data acquisition devices, it is important to ensure that all physiological acquisition devices connected to the patient monitor are approved as meeting the appropriate quality and safety standards for device performance so that monitoring quality and patient safety are not compromised.